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Ego

In my first post, As Above, So Below, I speculated that the afterlife might be analogous to a dream. While nobody knows for sure what happens after we die, I find the theory that the afterlife might be a form of dream intriguing. Carl Jung realized that dreams are compensatory. Our dreams inform us of the ways that we are off balance. By interpreting our dreams we can learn how to regain balance in our lives. In this way, dreams can be seen as a form of corrective measure. Many religions teach that we are either rewarded or punished after we die based upon how we behaved during our lives. If dreams and the afterlife are related, then it seems likely that the afterlife is also compensatory.
I remember a friend of mine, a chassidic rabbi, once told me that we judge ourselves after we die. Some part of ourselves, separate from our ego, evaluates our behavior in life and decrees some form of reward or punishment to correct the soul. This could be exactly what happens in a dream. Our Self formulates a dream experience to help correct our ego. I see no reason why the afterlife should be any different. When we reincarnate or “awaken” into our next life, we will hopefully have gained wisdom from the experience. Every subsequent incarnation offers an opportunity for the further growth of the individual and the species.